According to yesterday's Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential tracking poll of likely Democratic primary voters, Hillary Clinton now holds a 19-point lead over Barack Obama, who is a "distant second," according to Rasmussen.
The numbers break down as follows:
Clinton: 42%
Obama: 23%
Edwards: 14%
Rasmussen summarizes the poll data as follows:
In the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination, New York Senator Hillary Clinton inched up another point to 42% support among Likely Democratic Primary Voters. That’s the second straight day she has reached a new high-water mark. Illinois Senator Barack Obama is a distant second at 23% while former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is preferred by 14% (see daily history). Delaware Senator Joe Biden attracts 3% of the vote while New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson earns 2% support.
Hillary continues to climb in the polls, buoyed by her commanding victory in the CNN/YouTube debate last week.
The Obama campaign appears to be in flux at the moment, with Axelrod and Plouffe clearly encouraging Obama to "go negative" against Hillary, despite Obama's promises earlier in the year to run a "different kind" of campaign. Earlier this week, Obama attacked Hillary, accusing her being "Bush/Cheney lite."
Adding to the Obama campaign's problems is the flap over Obama's response to a 5-part question in the YouTube debate. Asked whether he would meet 1) separately; 2) without precondition; 3) during the first year; 4) in Washington or anywhere else; 5) with leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Obama answered "I would." Hillary disagreed, noting that while she embraced the idea of diplomacy generally, and called out the Bush administration for its failure to engage in diplomacy with other nations, she could not promise to meet unconditionally, because doing so would risk being used for propaganda purposes. Edwards agreed, as did Biden. Biden went so far as to call Obama's approach "naive":
Afterward, other candidates echoed Clinton’s criticism. Sen. Joseph Biden, who has emerged as the clear-eyed antiwar realist in the Democratic race, told National Review Online that the idea of a president meeting with Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and others was "naïve." "World leaders should not meet with other world leaders unless they know what the agenda is, so you don’t end up being used," Biden said. "When I went to meet with Milosevic before the war, the condition I met with him was that no press would be available, I’d only meet him in his office late at night, and I wouldn’t dignify being seen with him."
After the debate, it was noted that prior to the debate, Obama had promised the Miami Herald that he would only meet with Hugo Chavez "under certain conditions," which is what Hillary, Biden, and Edwards had said.
The Clinton campaign noted Obama's differing positions on the front page of her website today:
"Under certain conditions, I always believe in talking."--Barack Obama to the Miami Herald, July 22
"My theory was, 'you do' and you do without precondition"--Barack Obama in Iowa, Chicago Tribune, July 27
SOURCES:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/...